Bird strike turns around Allegiant flight headed for Las Vegas

An Allegiant jet heading from Stockton to Las Vegas had to turn back after striking a bird shortly after takeoff last week.

Alex Breitler

An Allegiant jet heading from Stockton to Las Vegas had to turn back after striking a bird shortly after takeoff last week.

The incident comes less than three months after San Joaquin County supervisors rejected a proposal to expand nearby Forward Landfill, a project that was deemed incompatible with airport operations because of the potential for increased bird strikes.

It had not been determined Monday what species of bird was struck by the jet and therefore whether the bird was the kind that might be attracted to landfills, said Harry Mavrogenes, the county's chief deputy administrator. Linking the bird strike with the landfill, he said, would be speculation.

"I don't know where the bird was going or whether it was feeding there or not," he said. "But that's always an issue of concern for us."

This was the fourth time in less than 13 months that an Allegiant plane at Stockton has reported a bird strike, according to a database kept by the Federal Aviation Administration.

In an email Monday, an Allegiant spokesman said Flight 527, an MD-80 aircraft with 153 people on board, left Stockton for Vegas at 2:09 p.m. Friday.

Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft declared an emergency.

The plane landed safely at 2:22 p.m. No injuries were reported. Passengers, however, had to wait for a replacement plane to arrive before they could resume their journey. That didn't happen until about 8 p.m. Friday.

Allegiant's prepared statement did not address the issue of the landfill or previous bird strikes at the airport.

Stockton Metropolitan typically ships dead birds to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington to identify the species.

"We don't know much more," Mavrogenes said. "The airline handled it very well and very professionally."

Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/breitlerblog and on Twitter @alexbreitler.